2 Miss. inmates wanted in slaying captured in La.

JACKSON -- Two Mississippi inmates suspected of fatally stabbing a 95-year-old woman after escaping from a prison were captured Tuesday in a bar on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, authorities said.

Richard Griffin, a supervisory inspector for the U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force in Jackson, Miss., told The Associated Press that information from confidential sources led authorities to the Razoo bar on Bourbon Street in New Orleans., where James Robert Martin, 22, and David Bass, 26, were taken into custody by members of the task force.

Mississippi Department of Corrections officials said Martin and Bass left the Forrest County Community Work Center Saturday afternoon. Martin was serving a five-year sentence for a grand larceny conviction from Monroe County. Bass was serving a seven-year sentence for five burglary convictions from Lee County.

Tara Booth, a spokeswoman for the department, said how the men were able to escape remains under investigation.

The men will face charges of capital murder in the death of Ada Smith, who was found dead Sunday in her Lamar County home, just north of Purvis city limits, said Lamar County Sheriff Danny Rigel.

The suspects allegedly made off with Smith's white 1993 Buick Century that carries a Mississippi disabled plate reading C3899.

"We had a lot of people working on this," Rigel said. "We're thankful that they were arrested as soon as they were because of the severity of the crime and before they could hurt anyone else."

Rigel said it will be a few days before the men will be transported back to Lamar County, depending on whether they waive or fight extradition. He did not have any details on how the men escaped custody.

The Department of Corrections did not immediately return a call seeking details of the escape.